The Big Bad Easter Bunny
by darkangel8950
Summary: Everyone knows the story of Little Red Riding Hood, right? Well, what you thought you knew, was wrong. This is a bunch of oneshots rolled together, from friendship, humor, romance, drama, etc. It's better than it sounds. Bunnymund/OC
1. New Guardian

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story and any Ocs used.**

Chapter 1

You know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, right? Of course you do. It's a beloved classic story about a little girl facing a big bad wolf on her way to her Grandma's house with a basket of treats that she whipped up just for the old woman. And when she got there, it ended up being the 'Big Bad Wolf' instead of her Grandmother? Everyone knows this to be the true tale of Little Red. But, guess what?

That's not exactly what happened.

E. Aster Bunnymund could tell you that first hand, this fictional 'Little Red Riding Hood' was a bad version of someone that he has come to know and love.

He had learned at first hand that the fable was nothing but a lie by the original Red Riding Hood; though what exactly _had _happened to her, he still does not know. Don't think he hasn't asked the red hooded girl herself about her past, he could count how many times he has by the eggs in his Warren. No, it's simply that she refuses to speak of anything regarding what happened to her back all those years ago.

Bunny had been silently dropping little questions about it every so often in a majority of their conversations, but somehow, the girl always knew when he was trying to pick into her past and always answered with the same, "Not now, Bunny." that would be met with a slightly agitated look about being shot down again.

Well, there was that one time that he got her to admit that she hadn't had her red cloak with her four hundred years ago, and she had said that everything was in too much of a panic to bother with petty things like cloaks at the moment. Then she realized what she was saying and who she was talking to, and just sort of clamped up. She hadn't said anything after that, and Bunny feared that she might have drifted too far into herself to be brought out again any time soon, so he went back to his Warren while she returned to the forest that she had occupied for her entire spirit filled life.

That was the last they had seen each other, at least two hundred years ago.

And now, as he looked at the smoky, red hooded image of the, now four hundred and sixteen, year old girl, he felt a surge of something warm inside him when he realized what exactly MiM was trying to tell them.

Tooth shrieked in delight, "Its Rue! Rue's the new Guardian!" she chirped happily as she zoomed about the room with a few of her Fairies following close behind, waiting for her to send them out somewhere for teeth to collect.

Jack was starting to get dizzy as he watched Tooth fly around North's workshop, chirping happily with her little fairies, so he turned his head down to look at the other three men in the room, "Who's Rue?" he asked them. In all of his three hundred and seventeen years, he had never once heard of this girl. But, he realized that he must have heard of her from sometime in his past life as he looked at the blood red cloak outline of the girl with a matching scythe held in one hand like he held his staff.

Bunny watched Sandy answer the boy's question, flashing multiple images at an increasingly fast pace in his excitement that was dangerously close to Tooth's; it had been a while since he saw Rue himself besides in her dreams, and he couldn't wait to see her again. He flashed the same symbols over again with each second; a wolves' head, some sort of cloak looking thing that seemed to be a little darker than his usual golden sand, and a woven basket with a blanket on the inside.

He kept flashing the images with a wide smile on his face, thinking this summed up what the winter spirit was asking, but in truth, not even Bunnymund could quite get what he was saying.

Jack squinted his bright blue eyes, tilting his head to one side as if that would help decipher the jumble of pictures, "She's a cloak wearing, basket holding, wolf? What?" he got.

The silver haired rabbit shook his head with an irritated sigh, "Naw, mate. Crikey, ya don't remember the story of _Little Red Riding Hood_? I mean, that whole legend is centered around Little Runey Girl there." he pointed at the still shining outlined form of the girl.

"Bunny, you know she does not like being called 'Little Runey Girl'." North chided with his thick Russian accent, but he was smiling. Every year, despite how close he cut it to fulfill the 'Deliver in one night' thing, he always stopped to have a short chat with Rue. If she was anywhere he could see her, that is.

The Pooka simply rolled his vivid green eyes at the man, "I've known her longer, North. Plus, she told me once that she didn't really _not _like it, but, that sheila has never been one to talk about things she doesn't like." he admitted as he reached up one paw and rub the back of his head, then the sight of Tooth suddenly appearing in front of him startled him.

Tooth looked like she was going to explode with excitement, "We need to go get her! Like, now, please!" she shrieked as Sandy floated next to her and nodded his head in enthusiasm, never speaking one word.

All at once, everyone started talking in front of Bunnymund.

"We shall use sleigh, it much faster, and flying over her forest would give better chance of finding her hood." North suggested.

"Uh, North. She doesn't always have her hood up, remember? Besides, if she did, it would be near to impossible to actually find her from above those thick trees. Which is why, I think, it would be best if I had my fairies comb through the area until they find her." Tooth added in.

Sandy made a few signs above his head, but they were still too fast for anyone in the room to comprehend.

"I honestly have no idea what this girl is like, but if she doesn't like snow, I could freeze her forest until she came out into the light, then you guys could stuff her into a sack like you did to me. Though, she might be able to get out with that scythe of hers..." Jack was of no help whatsoever.

Bunny stood there, listening to all of these suggestions that his fellow Guardians passed around themselves, his eyes drawn to the red hooded smoky image of the girl that was still floating above the rock; he suddenly remembered something that she had told him at one point before they had stopped talking to each other:

_"If ever MiM decides to make me a Guardian, don't let the other's take their cockamamie ideas and use them to get me. You know where I hang out and who I am more than any of the others in the entire group. So, I want you to come and recruit me in the only way you know how." _she had been looking up at the tree canopy above her as she told him this.

Bunny had decided that she was joking, so he had laughed, _"Ya mean ta tell me, that ya'd rather have me come in and talk ya into joining; instead of have Tooth bombard ya with reasons that ya should join?" _at this, she had glared halfheartedly at him while he turned back to look up at the canopy.

Now, he realized why she had wanted him to recruit her.

He shook his head with a smile, "Brilliant lil' git." he said to himself as he turned back to his teammates, who were still arguing about how to get her, "Quit yer yapping. I'm gonna be the one to get her here." he said, which quieted down the others as they turned to stare at him in disbelief, "What?" he asked.

North shared a glance with Tooth, "You've never been one to volunteer on recruiting, Bunny." he said tentatively.

Bunny's ears flattened against the back of his skull as he looked unamused, "Who all have we had to recruit? Frostbite was the only one to join in hundred of years. Who else have we been told to join?" he retorted.

North made a motion with his hands as if to say 'True.', "But still, are you sure you want to go? It is winter where Rue is, Jack might be better option." at this, said Winter Spirit looked at the Guardian of Hope with one of his signature 'Mischief' smirks, his eyes glinting with a bright silver tinge.

Bunny's unamused face turned into one of anger and untrust, "There is no way in _hell _that I'm letting that _Snowflake _anywhere near Rue with the way he is. Naw, mate. I'd rather freeze my tail off than let 'im go." he said.

North looked like he was about to protest, but stopped himself, it seemed like Bunny wanted some sort of alone time with the red cloaked spirit, so he nodded, "Very well, Bunny. You go, bring back Rue. We welcome her when you get back." he said.

Bunny blinked at the sudden change, but nodded and opened up one of his rabbit holes to jump down; the ground closing behind him and leaving a little red flower behind.

**RISE OF THE GUARDIANS**

"Oi! Rue! Ya out here, Hood?" Bunny hollered as he walked around the dense snowy forest, his hands cupped around his mouth as a makeshift blow horn.

As soon as his giant feet touched down on the cold snow, he wasted no time in walking around and shouting for her to come out so he could talk.

He had been walking for the better part of an hour and a half, his feet were numb, how he was still standing, he wasn't sure; his ears felt like they wouldn't swish around his head, but they still twitched every so often whenever he thought he might've heard something; and his tail felt like it was frozen off his backside.

"Runey! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he called again, then waited where he stood for a few minutes, then sighed. It was obvious that either she was ignoring him, or she was just busy doing whatever she did in her free time.

Turning around, he was about to start walking back to the tunnel he had left open, when;

"Hey, Million Dollar Bunny! Long time, no see!"

He swiveled his head around to look up into the tree tops, only to have a huge smile spread across his face at the sight that crouched on a fairly high tree branch.

Rue sat there, her hood up over her head, hiding her hair from view. The cloak portion of her red hood, cascaded down from her shoulders and ended about a foot under the branch she was perched on, every so often moving with the slight breeze of the wind as it blew towards her. Underneath her cloak was a black tunic with a neck that stopped about an inch above the base; her sleeves went down all the way to her middle finger, on her waist was a blood red belt that slung off one hip and crossed to the other. She had blood red tights covering her legs, it looked like they were pretty warm if she was walking around without actual pants like North or Jack, so he thought that secretly they might've been actual pants or at least something close to them. And on her feet were a pair of black boots that stopped half way up her calf.

His green eyes moved to her face, incredibly pale, almost as pale as Jack, with intense, blood red eyes and a half smile on her face.

Bunny smiled back, "Hey, Little Bit!" he called happily as she jumped down from her perch and landed not too far in front of him, her blood red scythe that he hadn't noticed was there, swinging in one of her hands as she held it in front of her and leaned against it much like Frost does with his staff, "I've been callin' for ya, sheila. Got somethin' important to talk to you about." he said.

Rue looked at him curiously, "What is it?" she asked him in a voice that he hadn't heard for two hundred years.

Bunnymund smiled at the girl as he walked forward and stood in front of her, there was a reason he called her 'Little Bit', he thought to himself as he saw her head came up under his chin, "Guess who's going to be the next Guardian?" he asked her.

He was immensely glad that she caught on quickly, he was starting to freeze in place. Her eyes widened in surprise and her half smile turned into a bigger, full on smile, "Me?!" she cried happily.

Bunny nodded, "MiM gave us the message not too long ago; your lucky I volunteered, otherwise everyone else would have made a big deal and overreacted over everything. Tooth was going to send each one of her lil' helpers through the forest until they found ya." he said, before he had to take a step back when she hugged him around his middle, her scythe cluttering to the ground when she dropped it.

"This is amazing." her voice, while muffled against his fur, rang out clear to his frozen ears, and he found himself smiling at her joy as he wrapped his own arms around her back.

He leaned his head down towards her ear, "What do ya say we get back to North's place, huh? The others wanted to celebrate your new Guardianship when I brought you back." he said.

She pulled away from him, grabbed up her scythe, turned around and looked at him with a smile, "Let's go." she said, motioning for him to lead the way.

And that night, as he puled Rue back to where he was standing when Jack started trying to flirt with her, he couldn't help but think of that old Red Riding Hood nursery rhyme, and how far fetched it was from the real girl.

Such was proven when she sucker punched the Winter Spirit when he got a little too close for comfort. In her defense, she _did _warn him to get back.

**Hey guys, thanks for reading the first chapter!**

**Just to tell y'all, I take requests for this story.**

**So, please let me know what you think, leave a review, give me a request, volunteer for the Hunger Games, I don't care.**

**Just, please, don't flame me.**

**-Zabby**


	2. Australian Flirting

**A/N: To WolfNinjaHiruka: Yes, I will be continuing this story; I had no idea about your OC though, I mean I tried to find you in the authors thing to see the resemblance, but I kept getting unknown author this, or doesn't exist that. Sorry about that. Anyways, this entire chapter is from a scene in _The Right Stuff _where Chuck Yeager is flirting with his wife like she's the girl at the bar that he's never met before. I thought it was really cute, so I did it with a human Bunnymund, and an adult Rue. I need requests people! Please!**

Chapter 2

Where was she?

She usually showed up in this exact bar at this time, it was the time he had been told to be there so he could talk to her. He had been staring at her for the past month now, but only when he was at the bar.

Aster turned his green gaze upward to the clock that resided on the wall above the window, she was definitely late by about fifteen minutes. If she didn't walk through the door in the next five seconds, he was going to jump out of this chair with a boomerang in hand and start trekking the Out Bac-

The bell above the door rung once as it finally swung open, and in walked a beautiful woman that had his nerves leaving him.

She had pitch black hair that was pulled back by a red ribbon, her hair was wavy and kept trying to escape the hold it was in. Her red eyes were framed by her angelic, pale face. It was much paler than a regular woman who lived in Australia and went to the beach every day. Then again, she came all the way from America about two years ago due to her wolf pack work. The people she worked for had told her to come to Australia and watch a pack of dingos or something like that, he was grateful for her bosses.

Her fulfilling hourglass figure was covered by a pair of dirtied up faded blue jeans and a dark red button down blouse, and brown hiking boots on her feet.

She wasn't very tall, but that was another thing that he loved about her, it made him feel like he was needed by someone. Especially since he stood at a towering six foot one inch height, not including his ever present Slouch hat that covered his natural stormy grey and silver hair that looked windswept when his hat was off. He looked much different compared to the woman he was looking at. With his bright green eyes, tan skin. It was definitely a contrast.

He was dressed in a khaki button down shirt, dark blue jeans, and brown combat boots. He liked to keep his attire simple, nothing too flashy, but of course, every now and again he would put on that signature hunter's vest and cargo shorts and go out barefoot on a long walk.

Of course, he knew she could take care of herself, that was certain when she had beat up a heavily muscled man in the bar on her first night in Australia. She knocked him out with a quick slam to his head with a glass bottle.

He placed his hand on the edge of his rugged jaw, feeling the blended in sideburns with his goatee; as he watched Rue walk over with a swing of her hips and lean up against the bar to order a drink, her eyes kept moving over to him every so often as if she were daring him to make a move.

He watched as she took the shot glass that was handed to her and raised the drink to her ruby red lips, taking it down in a single swig, before asking for another.

Rue finally turned her gaze full on Aster and playfully glared at him, he could tell the left corner of her mouth had lifted ever so slightly. Her eyes said nothing but _what are you waiting for?_

He teasingly glared right back as he finally stood up when she got another shot; making his way over to lean against the corner of the counter that she was standing at. He crossed his forearms over the counter and stared as she raised the new glass to her lips _time to make his move_.

He cleared his throat, causing her to pause with the tip of the glass in her mouth, the liquor was untouched as she stared at him, waiting, "Excuse me, sheila. I was jus' wonderin'." he started as she lowered the glass ever so slightly, a sign for him to continue, "Have ya ever been caught in the middle o' the Out Back?" he asked her.

Rue laughed and rolled her red eyes at him in an _oh please _gesture, before she raised the glass once again to her lips and chugged the liquor down, before she placed the glass down on the counter and looked at him, "I have never been caught in the Out Back, no. And I never will be. Not by you, or any other man." she said in a confident voice before she placed a few dollar bills on the counter as she stood up and thanked the woman behind the counter; then turned and started walking to the door.

When she reached the door, she turned back to look at him, a childish half smile on her face, "Sorry, honey," she said, "but you're out of luck." before she walked outside to the hot evening air.

Aster continued to smile as he waited patiently for her to get back on the horse she had ridden up there, event then, he waited for her to go tearing off into the distance on the palomino before he finally stood up and started making his way to follow her.

He was stopped, however, by a boy with snow white hair and electric blue eyes wearing a light blue tank top and khaki shorts with flip flops, his pale skin told Aster that he was American.

The boy looked up at him with a cautious expression, "I'd be careful with her, man. I saw a wedding ring on her left hand, that means she's married. Sorry, but I don't think you should go after her." he said in an apologetic voice.

"Jack, sweetie, come here." a girl with technicolored, pixie cut hair and a tie dyed sundress with turquoise flip flops, grabbed the boy, Jack, and pulled him closer to where she was sitting and looked up at Aster apologetically, "I'm sorry, Aster. My boyfriend just got here from America and I haven't had enough time to tell him about you all here." she said as Jack sat down on a stool beside her.

Aster shook his head with a smile, "It's fine, Toothy. Now, if you'll kindly excuse me." he said as he started for the door again.

He heard Toothiana sigh at her boyfriend, "It's okay for him to go after her, Jack. She's his wife." he paused at the door long enough to look down at his wedding band, a bright smile lighting his face as he turned and tipped his hat at the sheepish face of Jack; and back out the door to follow his beautiful wife.

**It was much shorter than I thought it would be, but I bet it's pretty good.**

**So, please guys, send me a request for a chapter! I know eventually, I wanna do some chapters where either Bunny or Rue get seriously injured and hang onto their life by a thread.**

**But, I need more ideas!**

**So, leave a review.**

**Don't flame.**


	3. Bonding (Jack and Rue)

**A/N: I. NEED. INSPIRATION. _NOW_. I mean, the only reason I got the idea for this was because my English teacher has us reading _Peter Pan_ in class. Plus, I wanted to do a little brother/sister moment between Rue and Jack.**

Chapter 3

Bonding

"You know what I just realized about you, Jack?"

The question disrupted the peaceful silence the two youngest members of the Guardians had going between them in the library of Santoff Claussen. Rue was sitting on the red felt couch, her cloak was folded up on the arm of the sofa that was closest to her, showing off her small, acrobatic figure in her black tunic, red belt, red leggings, and black boots; her scythe was leaning up against the back of the couch. Her black swing bob hairstyle swung to frame her face as she read the book she had placed in her lap.

Jack, who never changed anything about his appearance let alone placed his staff anywhere other than his hand, was perched on the back of the couch, trying to peek over her shoulder at the words on the page, but she kept moving her head into his view and he had to move around multiple times. He raised a silver eyebrow at the red eyed girl, "What would that be?" he asked, trying to look at the book again, only to glare at the back of her head when she moved again.

She turned the page and continued reading, "Your Peter Pan." she said simply before turning the page again; no, she wasn't doing that to spite Jack, she _really _read _that fast_.

Jack's attention had been on the fast turning pages, then he finally registered what exactly the scythe wielding girl had said, "...I'm _who_?" he asked as he abandoned the book to stare down at her head with wide, curiosity filled blue eyes.

Rue still didn't look up as she answered, "Peter Pan." another page was turned just as swiftly as the last while she waited for her companion to make a snide comment on the comparison, but he was uncharacteristically silent crouched behind her.

She paused in her last sentence of the second page and turned her head around to look at Jack, he looked like he was struggling with something that he couldn't comprehend, "What?" Rue asked, starting to grow slightly alarmed when he still didn't say anything after another ten seconds passed by.

"Who's Peter Pan?" he finally asked after another five milliseconds more of silence.

Rue stared up at him as she slowly closed her book, keeping her right thumb in the place she was at after she turned the page again, "...Your kidding, right? You don't know who Peter Pan is?" she asked in disbelief when he shook his head, "You never heard about him over the three centuries you were a spirit? Surely, you would have overheard someone mentioning the name at some point?" she asked for clarification.

Jack merely shook his head, "Nope, never heard of him. Is he cool and collected like someone I know?" he made gestures to himself as he struck a cocky pose on the back of the sofa.

Rue rolled her eyes and turned back tot he book, turning the page again, "Like Bunnymund? No, the complete opposite of that." she said, another page was turned as she continued, "Peter Pan is the boy who never grew up. He stayed a child, immature and somewhat cocky, he never grew up mentally or physically; and he always hung out with a fairy named Tinkerbell." another page turned, she was going slower because she was reading and talking to Jack at the same time.

Jack had taken a little offense at what she said, "What are you talking about, I grew up. I've been around now for three hundred and seventeen years haven't I?" he said proudly, puffing out his chest to show how he had grown old.

Rue marked her page and looked at him again, "Jack, your the Guardian of Fun. You died playing a game that little boys played. I don't even have to see your memories to know that while you were alive, you still acted like a little boy. To me, you sound almost exactly like Peter Pan." she said.

"Almost? What's different?" Jack asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Peter's not a spirit of Winter, and you didn't stay in a faraway place called Neverland." she said simply.

Jack pouted exactly like a child as he stubbornly stared at her, "Well maybe I think _your _like Peter Pan." he said it, and Rue had to raise an eyebrow because it had just about absolutely nothing to do with what she had just told him.

Rue looked unamused, "Not likely. It's a known fact that girls mature faster than boys, I matured when I was about ten, and then I died six years after that." she said.

"You died too? So, I wasn't the only one then.. Hey, I'm older than you are! I died when I was seventeen, and you when you were sixteen!" he said happily, glad he wasn't the youngest.

His happiness was crushed when she shook her head at him, "Sorry, Jack. I died four hundred and sixteen years ago. You died three hundred and seventeen years. I'm older than you are by at least a hundred and one years." she said, ending the conversation.

It was silent again as Rue turned back to her book and continued to flip through the pages while still reading every word of the story, then Jack realized something; Everyone knew how he had died to become what he was now, but no one knew how Rue became the Guardian of Bravery, she had never spoken about what happened to her besides that one time, Bunny told him she had let a small something slip out during a conversation.

Would she tell him if he asked her about it?

'You never know unless you try.' Jack told himself as he watched another two pages get turned again, "Hey, Rue? I was just wondering," he started as she nodded at him from behind to get him to continue, another page turned, "how _did_ you die?" he asked.

It was a simple question, but she stilled her movements between turning pages as sudden, unwanted memories clouded her mind at the word 'die'.

Sharp, painful, canine teeth tearing her flesh. Blood coming from her wounds and mouth, spattering the ground and painting it red as she cried out desperately and struggled under the massive weight of the monster to grab her father's scythe she had taken before running out the door with her brother. The pain was impossible to go through, something she never would have thought she would experience in her entire life, and she hated it. All she wanted at that moment was to curl into a ball around herself and go to sleep for all eternity, _"RUENEY!" _she heard her brother scream_-_

Rue shook her head sharply when the book slipped from her grasp as the pain came back to her abdomen as if it had just happened again, she wouldn't let it happen again, especially not when she has become a skilled hunter of the great beasts that had killed her all those years ago.

"Rue..?" Jack asked cautiously, his companion had been quiet for a good minute and a half, her eyes had had that strange glassy look to them as if she were stuck in a memory of some sort, "Are you okay?" he asked her.

Rue took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and after telling herself silently that she wouldn't have to see the monsters until the next full moon, turned and looked up at Jack, "I'm fine, Jack. I don't want to say what happened to me just yet, okay? It brings back memories." was all she said in response before she turned back and picked the book off the ground, looking at the cover for a moment, "I used to have a little brother. He acted like Peter Pan as well, so when I say your like Peter, I don't mean it to be an insult." she said before she stood up after marking her place properly, and went over to put it back where she found it.

Jack seemed to think to himself about something. Rue acted a little bit like his younger sister, Samantha. When something was bothering Sam but she didn't wanna say what it was, she would change the subject pretty fast and go to something that was farther away from the original topic. He always hated it. But, if she didn't want to talk about it just yet, then he wouldn't push it; he knew when to stop talking about something, and that was now.

He looked at her with her back turned to him, "I didn't take it as one... What happened to your brother?" he asked her.

He watched Rue take in a deep breath and look straight ahead at the book shelf in front of her, "He grew up." she said simply, "I've never had a little brother since Scout...passed away all those years ago. It's just been me." she said, starting to thumb through the books for something new to read.

The Winter Spirit pursed his lips as he thought to himself, he hadn't had a sister since Sam died, and even then, he hadn't known he had a sister until the battle with Pitch. Rue obviously remembered everything about her brother, and she missed him dearly. Jack looked up at her, "Um, Rue? I have a question.." he started.

Rue didn't turn around, her thumb continuing to touch the binders of the books, but she nodded to indicate she acknowledged him.

He took a deep breath, "Can I be your little brother?" he asked in one breath, it was so fast that he was afraid she hadn't heard him.

Rue on the other hand, had stilled in her movements, after hundreds of years of chasing down her murderers before they could kill another person like her, was able to hear what he had asked as if he had said it slowly. She turned her head around to look at him, he looked a little embarrassed to ask her something like that, his blue eyes had moved to study the material of the red couch and he shifted uneasily as he got his feet to grip another part of the back of the couch. It reminded her of when Scout used to stand in the doorway to the bathroom and try to blame himself for something they're father had done, and she found herself smiling.

"Of course, Jack. You can be my little brother." she found herself laughing at his suddenly ecstatic face as she grabbed a random book and went to sit down in her original seat, annoying Jack to no end when she turned the pages faster than he could read through a single sentence.

**Not my best chapter, but it'll do until someone fraking gives me a request already!**

**Happy Easter, guys.**

**Leave a review or request.**

**Just don't flame me.**

**-Zabby**


	4. Afraid Pt 1

**A/N: I finally got a request, from a guest! Thank you! This chapter holds what you suggested as well as something that I was thinking of putting in. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Afraid Pt. 1

Bunnymund wasn't afraid of a lot of things.

He wasn't afraid during the battle with Pitch almost a year ago.

He wasn't _afraid _so much as he was anxious about riding in North's sleigh to get to Tooth's Palace.

And he wasn't _that _afraid of Jamie's greyhound from hell as he was chased around the boy's room on that one night they had decided to help Tooth collect teeth.

...Okay, so he was somewhat afraid of a few things, but the one thing he feared the most, was things that were not only potentially dangerous to him or someone else, but also something that was bigger than he was. He felt highly threatened around bigger things like that, it was an animal thing. Somewhat territorial, he guessed.

So, when he walked into the Globe Room of Santoff Claussen and saw a mutated, rust colored wolf that stood over him in both muscles and height, he felt it was absolutely necessary that he scream.

...Like a little girl...

After a moment or so of labored breathing to calm his frayed nerves, he turned his ears around towards the large double doors she had walked through only a moment earlier, praying to himself that no one had heard him, especially not North or Jack. He'd never hear the end of it.

'_Why did you scream, Little Bunny?_' he turned his ears back forward when he heard the deep, monotonous voice resound within the barrier of his skull, reverberating around the fragile area as it penetrated his subconscious.

He looked up swiftly and locked his bright green eyes with the blue moon colored ones of the wolf, "D-" he exhaled, finding it a little hard to speak after that brief panic attack, "Did y-ou j-just talk, _mate_?" he asked the great beast, who only tilted his great head slightly to the right in response.

Bunny found this to be a little strange, it almost seemed like the wolf had understood what he had said, but that couldn't be possible. Animals usually only responded like that to either their names being called, or when they were given a direct order that basic instinct told them to follow their masters and mistresses without question. How could they? They didn't have voices that people could actually understand, which in turn made the humans think that all animals had tiny brains and couldn't really do anything useful, therefore prompting them to use the 'baby voice' as it was so frequently called.

"Of course he didn't talk, Bunny." Bunnymund jumped about five feet in the air as a new voice called his attention to his left, it had appeared so suddenly.

Rue resisted the urge to laugh at the startled expression on the Pooka's face, and she smiled at the wolf as she turned her head in his direction, "Rowan communicates with people through telepathy, that's what everyone in his late Clan did." and with this said, Bunny watched as the black haired girl practically sprinted over to the gigantic, rust colored wolf she had proclaimed as Rowan; throwing her skinny, scythe wielding arms around his furry neck, her hands having to twine themselves with the fur since she couldn't quite reach all the way around him.

She nuzzled her face into Rowan's broad chest, much like a young pup, and Bunny felt himself start to grow a little jealous of the beast Red Riding Hood was holding onto, "Its so good to see you again, Rowan! Did you find anyone from your Clan?" she asked as Rowan bent his head down and tapped the end of his muzzle against her back, that's how far it went.

Bunnymund turned his head around to look for the voice that popped up in his mind again, then realized Rue must've been right about the telepathy thing, "_They have all joined our ancestors in the stars. But, that is not why I am here, Runey Ana. Lycans are moving down to your base._" he heard the deep voice bounce around in his skull again, but his attention was on the huge wolf, 'Dire Wolf.' he told himself as he finally realized the mythological creatures were the only ones in the wolf family of his massive size.

Rue gasped quietly and pulled away from Rowan, turning her head swiftly toward Bunny with a nervous expression, "Bunny, can you please leave for a moment? I need to talk to him in private." she said lowly, her tone of voice nearly scaring him. He had never heard it from her. Ever.

Something was wrong.

Bunny opened his mouth to decline, say that whatever threat she was facing, then he would help her face it. Because, really, he didn't like the idea of a girl that was her height and age, facing anything as bad as a Lycan on her own; but at the look her vivid red eyes were giving him, he had no room to argue let alone offer his services. Instead, he shut his mouth, nodded once, turned, and hopped out of the room.

As the doors shut behind him, he turned back and pressed his body up against the door, laying his ears flat on the red wood, he strained them to hear what was being said between the two beings left in the Globe Room.

For some reason, he couldn't hear what Rowan was saying, it seemed that a Dire Wolf's communication ability only ranged out to those in the same room with him; but he could hear Rue as if she were standing right next to him.

"How many are there?" she sounded somewhat alarmed, which proved how bad the situation truly was.

There was silence that followed, a silence that stretched on for about twenty seconds, before, "Cerberus. Great, Cerberus is leading them all down." a sigh, "Why are they coming now? It's not the full moon yet, they're extremely early." she said.

'Cerberus?' the Pooka asked himself silently, his brow furrowing in confusion as his mind showed him an image of a giant, three headed dog strutting ahead of thousands of half crouched, half walking, human bodied creatures with fur and heads of wolves; snarling as they followed behind it. He knew the old legend behind the Greek monster who was supposed to guard the Underworld from any trespassers, but he always wrote it off as a mere legend. A myth if you will.

Yeah, and the Easter Bunny was only a fable.

His thoughts were interrupted by a small shriek in shock, "_Pitch Black?!_ He convinced them to go early?! When he knew I _wasn't even there_! He's smarter than I gave him credit for." she cried in rage, but his thoughts, and possibly his heart had stopped when he heard the Nightmare King's name.

Bunny couldn't take standing behind the door anymore in that moment, and soon found himself thumping the ground to make a tunnel. He jumped down into the short tunnel and came back up in the Globe Room, up on the catwalk where Rue couldn't see or hear him if he moved his big feet on the ground.

Luckily, it seemed Rowan hadn't said anything after her last sentence, and he managed to hear the other side of the conversation, "_I know what you are thinking, Rue. I do not deem it wise to rush into battle without any help. You forget, you are a part of the Guardians of Childhood; the Guardian of Bravery herself. You have a whole team to help you fight the ten Lycans minus Pitch. You do not have to fight alone._" the large wolf's moon blue eyes shone with something akin to concern for the four hundred and sixteen year old girl.

He couldn't see Rue's face due to her back being turned to him, but he imagined she had one eyebrow raised, "Do you not remember the past four hundred years? I've been fighting them on my own since I was reborn; Pitch or no, I'm going alone." she said before she turned around with frightening speed; Bunny managed to hit the bottom of his chin on the railing in his haste to press himself as close to the ground as her possibly could just to remain invisible to the black haired girl.

He slowly peeked his head over the bar when he heard the Globe Room doors open and close loudly; sadly his position was found out by the giant wolf she had been speaking to.

"_If I were you, little bunny; I would catch up to her before she does something drastic to herself._" was all Rowan said on the subject.

The Easter Bunny huffed as he jumped down from the cat walk he had occupied, landing on his feet, he stood up to his full height and crossed his arms over his chest, "What do you think she could possibly do before I got there? I can make it there much faster than Runey Girl." he said almost smugly despite what he knew Red Riding Hood was going to go and do.

The expression that made it's way to the Dire Wolf's face had the Pooka thinking Rowan would have sighed in exasperation, "_Little Bunny, you know little to nothing about Rue do you? She's _much _faster than you'd think. We have been talking now for about a minute, and she has already grabbed her scythe and is currently running past the first European state border as we continue this pointless conversation._" he said.

Bunny's face twisted into one of shock, "That sheila's already _that bloody far?!_" he asked in shock_. _He knew Rue was fast, but he had no idea exactly _how _fast she was.

Turning his head around towards the door, he thought about opening a rabbit hole and going down that to get there faster than her and take care of the worse of the fight; then realized he had no idea where _there _was, "Where's she headed, mate?" he asked Rowan, turning his head back to look at him.

"_She is headed to her old home. The place she died, as well as the place she had been occupying for four hundred years._" the wolf wasn't helping much in the information department, and Bunnymund found himself getting easily annoyed with him at a fast reclining rate.

"Mate, right now I really don't give a damn about all that stuff, okay? I wanna know where exactly Runey's headed. As in the state and city, ya bloody gumby." he said in an annoyed tone. He knew it probably wasn't that wise of him to start calling the much larger Dire Wolf bad names in his own native tongue, but he was annoyed and worried at the same time.

As it turned out, if the wolf was angry at him, he didn't show it; instead, Rowan's right ear twitched ever so slightly and he looked at the large rabbit with cool, calculating moon blue eyes, "_At the base of a mountain in Burgess, Pennsylvania._" he finally said.

Bunny nodded once, beginning to stalk to the door before he paused once he got there, "Burgess?" turning around to look back at the wolf, "That's where Frostbite lives. Huh," he was muttering to himself now, "after all the times I would stop to visit Rue, I never bothered once to notice exactly what town it was; let alone what other spirits were actually there." he looked back up at a strange growling sound from his companion, "Right, sorry mate." he chuckled nervously as he finally turned back around and, realizing he could just make a hole, opened one up and jumped in; the hole closing up behind him and leaving a simple red flower.

**RISE OF THE GUARDIANS**

When he got to Burgess, he had to jump back from getting hit by a blurry, black shape that sliced through the branches of the forest with such ease, Bunny would have thought it were a shadow spirit. In fact, that was his first thought; then he saw the sheen in the fur through the gaps in the trees and thought otherwise.

He got down on all fours and started following the black creature, his hind legs kicking up dirt as he picked up speed at the sound of animalistic growls and snarls, as well as some grunting and battle cries, coming from somewhere up ahead.

Skidding to a halt, Bunny huffed a few times and surveyed the scene before him.

It was a clearing. Fairly large by the looks of it, but also a little small, not like your average clearing. And scattered throughout the entirety of the area were black furred, yellow eyed Lycans.

The great beasts were circled around someone who was swinging a large scythe around and cutting off so many heads, it almost looked casual. Instead of the bodies dropping, however, they turned to black dream sand and sank deep into the ground.

Quickly, Bunnymund moved to the side and hid in one of the bushes on the outskirts of the clearing, his eyes blending in the the leaves as he leaned forward and looked out at the fight taking place.

Rue suddenly jumped up from the middle of the circle, bringing the blade of her weapon down and cutting one of the beast clean in half as she landed on the backs of multiple Lycans and started using them as step stools to get around, occasionally slicing with her blade as she went.

Bunny couldn't help but watch in awe, Rue moved with such grace and ease, it was almost as if she were born for this job.

His ears perked up in the safety of the bush at the loud snarl coming from his left, and he looked over just in time to see a Lycan that was much larger than the others, with scars and matted fur all over its body, lunge out into the clearing with teeth bared and yellow eyes blazing.

Bunny saw Rue's eye look at the fast approaching Lycan out of the corner, she knew he was coming. She quickly jumped up and flipped off the Lycan she had just cut the head off of, landing flat on her feet as the largest Lycan snapped its jaws around the area she had just been in, "Hello Cerberus." she greeted the Lycan, "Haven't seen you since last full moon. What are you doing out so early?" she asked.

Cerberus turned, his eyes seeming to burn her from the inside out, "We were hungry Runey. After all, we haven't eaten in four hundred centuries thanks to you." he growled, his giant paws padding the ground as he moved towards her.

Rue was unfazed by his movement, "A little birdy told me that Pitch Black convinced you it would be safe to leave the cave. Is that right? That I had become a Guardian and didn't have time to fight you off, hm?" she asked, spreading her arms out as if to say _here I am_, "Obviously not the case since I've killed about twenty of your Clan already."

"The Nightmare King was involved, yes." Cerberus said truthfully, no point in keeping that a secret.

The girl opened her mouth to continue talking to the Lycan, but Bunny wasn't listening anymore, his eyes and ears were on the shadow that had started taking form right behind Red Riding Hood, its depths promising pain and suffering to whoever came in contact. The Pooka watched with baited breath as the shadow morphed itself into he shape of the Boogeyman, tall, dark, and nightmare arrow notched and at the ready, the end pointed straight at the girls unsuspecting back.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion from there as Bunnymund suddenly shot out from his bush shelter, bounding on all fours to reach the three beings as soon as he possibly could; pushing himself to the limit when he saw the arrow was about to be shot. When he was five feet away, he leaped into the air as the arrow was fired. Before it made impact, he had just enough time to look down at Rue's wide, shock filled eyes as a cry escaped her lips, making it the last thing he heard before the point made contact with his back and he fell to the sand and dirt covered ground with a hard and heavy thud, "BUNNY!"

Bunnymund wasn't afraid of a lot of things.

He wasn't _terribly _afraid of Rue's dire wolf friend.

He wasn't afraid of whether or not Rue could handle herself.

And he wasn't afraid of jumping in front of the girl to take a blow for her.

He _was _afraid, however, of leaving the girl because of what his actions had done to him.

This fear remained fresh in his mind as the darkness settled in, the last image he would see, being Rue bending down to help her fallen friend, her eyes wide and panicked, her mouth forming words he could not hear, as the remaining Lycans and Pitch moved away from the scene, retreating to their hideout until a later date.

And then,

there was nothing but nightmares and pain.

**I'm so sorry this took so long to update! I've been preoccupied with a lot of other things.**

**Leave a review, request, love note. Really, any of those will do.**

**I just ask that you keep your flames to yourself.**

**-Zabby**


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